The startup’s name is Faraday Future, and it has been hunting for a place to build what it says will be a $1 billion manufacturing plant for a new line of cars. Four states are contenders and the company says to expect an announcement within weeks.

The year 2015 may go down as when support for renewable energy flipped. Policy adjustments—whether for electricity generation or transportation fuels—are in the works on both the state and federal levels.

Apple Inc. on Friday leaked that the iconic smartphone maker is on a crash program to design an electric vehicle and is bidding big bucks to recruit Tesla employees. Court filings also disclose that electric-car battery maker A123 Systems is suing Apple for illegally poaching top engineers to build a large-scale battery division.

In a September 2014 interview with Charlie Rose, Apple CEO Tim Cook said “There are products that we’re working on that no one knows about. That haven’t been rumored about yet.” That same month, Apple hired the president and chief executive of Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America, Johann Jungwirth. Let the rumors begin.